This invention relates in general to a platform lift for use in single unit homes having attached garages with an attic or bonus room above the garage.
In the past storage and retrieval of a wide spectrum of things and materials between home garages and the overlying attic areas have depended largely on access holes and fold down attic ladders.
The overhead attic access hole through which a ladder could pass enabled the storage/retrieval of things in a very limited way as demanded by the clearance dimensions of the hole. Such access was and is clumsy at best.
Overhead fold down attic ladders were a great improvement but still quite restrictive as to what could be stored and retrieved. The awkwardness of using a ladder with item being transferred in hand was still there. Physical risks of falling, twisting, and strain injuries went with this usage.
A third option to storing a miscellany of things, tools, and sports items is often accomplished in suburban homes by the trail of least resistance. This meant stacking or putting many items on the garage floor. The result of this sometimes prevented keeping a family car in the garage. Today some homes are being built with extra car stall space to be used in keeping a miscellany of things under roof.
Inventions that go beyond the ladder/access hole mode of storage/retrieval do not seem to apply to the spectrum of things which can be or are moved between home attached garages and attics. The mechanical inventions for use in home garages include a boat storage apparatus and an auto hoist.
The car hoist U.S. Pat. No. 2,349,389 (1944) by Thompson is very specific in its use and does not seem to have application as envisioned here.
The Henderson Auxiliary Storage Means for Boats and the Like, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,320 (1971) is for garage use. This storage means does not have provisions or intent in solving the storage/retrieval of anything other than boat-like objects. Further, this device is intended to be occupied continuously in suspending an object. Through its use, occupation or nonuse the gaping portal is there. Mechanically this storage means appears to be little more than a block and tackle rigged to a ridge beam requiring some trial and error in lift strap placements to use effectively. Provisions are not made for storing much of a range of items beyond boat-like things.